Japan: Nuke talks separate from NK abductions, missiles

Japan: Nuke talks separate from NK abductions, missiles. January. 17, 2011 09:54. zeitung@donga.com srkim@donga.com.

Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Sunday that the agenda for bilateral dialogue the Japanese government is seeking to hold with North Korea is Pyongyang`s past abductions of Japanese nationals and missile threats, not its nuclear program.

At a forum hosted by the state-funded Sejong Institute in Seoul, Maehara was quoted as saying that while Pyongyang’s issues include those of its nuclear program, missile threat and abductions, the latter two should be considered Tokyo’s issues.

Whereas top Japanese and North Korean diplomats could sit face-to-face with each other to discuss the abductions at the six-party nuclear talks, the multilateral dialogue is for discussing Pyongyang’s nuclear program, he said.

Tokyo will seek dialogue with Pyongyang regardless of whether the six-way talks are held, he added.

“Basically, the abduction and missile issues should be resolved by Japan through direct negotiations with North Korea regardless of the six-party talks,” Maehara said.

“Failure to resume the six-party talks doesn`t mean that the abduction issue won`t be discussed,” he said. “Families of the victims have strived to find their kidnapped relatives for 20 to 30 years. They’ll be disappointed if told that the issue will not be discussed if the six-party talks are not resumed.”

Inter-Korean talks take precedence over Japan’s dialogue with the North, he added, pledging that Tokyo will do its best at the six-party talks and cooperate with Seoul and Washington when holding talks with Pyongyang.

In a separate meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Maehara was told that the North’s uranium enrichment program should be referred to the U.N. Security Council, to which the Japanese foreign minister expressed his full support, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Hee-jung.

An official at the presidential office also said that while China balks at referring the North’s uranium program to the Security Council, President Lee says the council must deal with the issue.

Maehara told President Lee that inter-Korean dialogue should precede the six-party talks, urging the North to hold a clear and responsible attitude toward its torpedo attack on a South Korean naval vessel and artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island last year.